Soojir mohonbhog

Soojir mohonbhog

I love semolina !!! I love each and every preparation made with semolina . I don’t think there is any Bengali who doesn’t like mohonbhog- the Bengali delicacy . The difference between mohonbhog and regular sooji halwa is , mohonbhog is drier than halwas . Ghee needs to be separated before you stop cooking it . Texture though dry but should be moist with ghee and should not be mushy .. If you squeeze a little with your finger, you will feel them grainy – “Dana dana jhorjhore ” .. 🙂 sorry couldn’t get any proper English term to describe . 🙂
Many use milk in mohonbhog , but I at my home my mom never used milk making mohonbhog . because milk makes the semolina mushy. I still remember the taste of Mohonbhog of Old Dhaka’s Moronchand sweets . Oh!!! How flavorful mohonbhog can be . Many a time we used to go to Moronchand early in the morning to grab some luchi and mohonbhog . The earlier the better , lest you don’t get any mohonbhog left for you !!! Miss those days !!! Miss Moronchand Sweetmeat , miss mohonbhog !!!!!
For mohonbhog coarse semolina is perfect . But now in New York , the semolina is too fine , even the coarse one looks like powdered !!! Please use coarse semolina to get the correct texture and again the ratio of sugar , semolina and water is very important .

Ingredients :

1 cup coarse semolina/ shooji
1 – 1 and 1/4 th cup sugar ( according to the taste)
1 cup ghee ( If you are using nonstick use 3/4 th cup)
1 and 1/4 th cup water
3 green cardamoms , 1 small stick of cinnamon and 1 bay leaf
Kishmish and dried fruits to garnish

Procedure :

1. Heat the ghee and add cinnamon , cardamom and bay leaf . Add the sooji and fry until light brown and fragrant . The flavor of sooji never comes without frying .

2. Now add the sugar , then add all the water . Stir continuously until ghee separates . And all the water evaporates .

3. Garnish with dried fruits .

Great with luchi , porota or even ruti .. 🙂

Tips :

1. Mohonbhog is great for its flavor of good quality ghee . If anyone doesn’t want to use that much of ghee , then you can cook with oil . But add 2 tbl spoon of ghee at the end of the cooking .. 🙂